I took Rosie to the beach and then went to buy Cyprus Today. I read it whilst having breakfast and was totally in shock to read that David Carter has passed away. Some time back he emailed me to say how much he enjoyed my website and we corresponded frequently after that. He was also a frequent contributor to Mal’s north cyprus Free Press.

Our heartfelt condolences go to his wife Wendy, his daughter Sheryl and son Matthew.

From Cyprus Today:

Cyprus Tapes author dies aged 71

The man who wrote the Cyprus Tapes – essential reading for anyone interested in why the TRNC was formed – has died in the UK.

The final literary legacy of David Carter, however, who penned his work under the name of David Matthews, is to be Aphrodite’s Killers, completed just before his death, which charts the activities of Eoka, the Greek Cypriot terrorist organisation. It is to be published in April.

Mr Carter, who has also been a Cyprus Today columnist, died at the age of 71 on Friday December 18th, following a heart attack at his home in Norfolk.

His interest in Cyprus was sparked by his visit as a BBC journalist and programme producer in 1977, when he interviewed leading figures such as TRNC founding  President Rauf Denktas.

In subsequent years he became an authority on Cyprus and its troubled history, including writing many articles on the subject for the website Britain’s Small Wars.

Speaking to Cyprus Today from her home in the UK, Mr Carter’s widow Wendy said: “He had a passion about the island and the Turkish Cypriots in their isolated little country. He did what he could to put the record straight.

“I think he had an inkling that his time was almost up. He always used to make breakfast for us both but a few weeks before he died the tray would also have on it a love poem from him. There was a different poem every morning and they were wonderful”.

Mrs Carter said the death of her husband denied him his wish to make a final visit to North Cyprus. “He wanted to sit with a brandy sour looking over the sea and the rock pool by the Dome Hotel, just one last time” she said.

David Carter did however score a final number 1 – when, according to his wishes, his body became the first to be accepted for medical use by Norfolk and Norwich University Hosptial.

It is expected that, following the cremation in around 2 months time, Mr Carter’s ashes will be brought to his favourite spot near the Dome and scattered in the sea there.

Apart from Wendy, Mr Carter leaves daughter Sheryl, 45 and a son Matthew, who is 34.